I
went off on my longest day trip since I started this project. I’ve dozens of
stories I’ve written over the past years. I’m trying to pull some of them
together while adding new ones. This is all while also working towards
finishing the book of the past winter’s travels.
My
mind always fills with questions. Today I am stuck with finding more
information about the towns I visit or travel through. The internet only gives
me small pieces usually through Wikipedia. A few towns have histories on-line,
but the research is time consuming. It’s disappointing to spend a lot of time
on the internet and not find any information.
My
style of working is to do little planning in advance. I want to visit an area
with as little pre-conceptions as possible. The trips are in exploration. I
love the surprise of discovery. This is my own way at being an explorer and
within the next few days afterwards, I try to dig up more information and
history about the area. It’s funny because I always have the “Wish I had…”
regrets, but a major part of these trips is about my spontaneity. If I stopped
for everything that caught my eye to photograph, I couldn’t get very far.
So,
no regrets, right? These are day trips and I can always go back for a second
visit or if I pass through a place on my way to somewhere else, I can return
there, too. That happened on this recent journey. I passed through three towns
to which I want to return to highlight that area.
This
is a learning process, and not just about the towns and areas. I’m stretching
my mental boundaries, too. Each trip is teaching me to be a better writer. The
irony, though, is in not going back and rewriting previous stories every time I
get a “new” idea on how to improve the storytelling. If I keep going back and
re-editing what’s already been written, I’ll never get anywhere and there’s
still so much territory to cover.
This
project is going to take my whole life. I may never get it all done.
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